Variational theory of the Ricci curvature tensor dynamics
Abstract In this letter a new Lagrangian variational principle is proved to hold for the Einstein field equations, in which the independent variational tensor field is identified with the Ricci curvature tensor $$R^{\mu \nu }$$ R μ ν rather than the metric tensor $$g_{\mu \nu }$$ g μ ν . The corresp...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | article |
| Language: | EN |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doaj.org/article/2d3956fc4cde495fb8d44e09369f01d7 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Abstract In this letter a new Lagrangian variational principle is proved to hold for the Einstein field equations, in which the independent variational tensor field is identified with the Ricci curvature tensor $$R^{\mu \nu }$$ R μ ν rather than the metric tensor $$g_{\mu \nu }$$ g μ ν . The corresponding Lagrangian function, denoted as $$L_{R}$$ L R , is realized by a polynomial expression of the Ricci 4-scalar $$R\equiv g_{\mu \nu }R^{\mu \nu }$$ R ≡ g μ ν R μ ν and of the quadratic curvature 4-scalar $$\rho \equiv R^{\mu \nu }R_{\mu \nu }$$ ρ ≡ R μ ν R μ ν . The Lagrangian variational principle applies both to vacuum and non-vacuum cases and for its validity it demands a non-vanishing, and actually also positive, cosmological constant $$\Lambda >0$$ Λ > 0 . Then, by implementing the deDonder–Weyl formalism, the physical conditions for the existence of a manifestly-covariant Hamiltonian structure associated with such a Lagrangian formulation are investigated. As a consequence, it is proved that the Ricci tensor can obey a Hamiltonian dynamics which is consistent with the solutions predicted by the Einstein field equations. |
|---|